Page 77 of The Soulmate Bakery

I decided to channel all my frustration at Orion and walk to his house from the bakery, armed with a speech and no desserts because he deserved none. But when I arrived at the Hawthornes’ house, I was startled to hear … shouting. I knew Raven wasn’t home – she was still doing an extra mock exam for the MAC test at school.

When the shouting got even louder, I made a decision. I bent down and found the spare key to the front door, concealed under the welcome mat. I unlocked the door, stepped inside the foyer and found everything to be exactly the way it usually was.

Until the shouting started again.

‘A waste of an education!’

Chief Inspector Hawthorne cut through the silence with a voice like thunder that I wasn’t used to hearing from him. One that made my bones shake a little.

‘And now you’re going to be a teacher?’ He continued, aggravated. ‘You’re giving up a coveted position to be a teacher?’

Someone – I’m assuming Orion – replied quietly. It was followed by a stomp of a person’s foot. Silence, and then:

‘You can’t force him.’ Mrs Hawthorne’s tone was firm, but even I could hear her disappointment. ‘He’s made a decision.’

‘The wrong one,’ Chief Inspector Hawthorne snapped.

‘Yes, well, his mistakes are also his to own,’ she continued. ‘You understand that, right, Orion? This is your choice, your decision. If you hate it down the line, you cannot blame us.’

My ears strained to catch Orion’s reply, but it was too soft. Finally, it seemed like his father was done with the conversation, because his footsteps left the room and were coming down the stairs.

Towards me.

Now, if I was a first-time friend, I might have panicked. But I knew the Hawthornes’ house, and I knew that behind the staircase was a hidden doorway. I slipped inside and waited until I heard Mr Hawthorne, and then his wife, go out of the front door.

When they were gone, I stepped back out and climbed up the stairs. I moved on autopilot, driven by a burning feeling to just make sure Orion was all right. When I reached the second floor, I looked up at the ceiling.

I reminded myself of my lessons with Orion. I raised my hand, my fingertips warm with magic.

‘Knock once, knock twice, open the door that’s out of sight.’

A small square of ceiling unlocked, and a ladder descended. My hands curled around the frame, a sense of familiarity washing over me.

Slowly, I placed one foot on the ladder, and I climbed.

All the way up to the roof.

I found Orion laying down on the tiled roof, his hands laced over his stomach, staring at the sky. A shot of déjà vu hit me, memories of seeing him in this exact same position playing over in my mind, again and again. Last summer was going to haunt me forever, it seemed.

‘You know, if you stare any longer, I’m going to develop a complex,’ Orion said, his head turning to the right to see me lingering at the top of the ladder. ‘Either come up, or let me wallow, Reverie.’

I should’ve walked away and let Orion deal with this on his own. But I couldn’t. I knew that if he had seen me here, in this same position, he wouldn’t have walked away. So, I wouldn’t either.

I climbed the last rungs, turned and shut the door to the roof gently. Then, I padded my way over and found my place beside him.

There was space between us, but I could feel the warmth radiating from him. His wings were out, but tucked beneath him, and he was wearing his favourite blue sweater. The smell of burning campfires filled my lungs, and, if the sky had been a darkened-sunset colour, I could almost imagine we were back in the previous summer.

But the sky was bright blue, and fluffy clouds filled the air. We weren’t sixteen and eighteen any more, and there wasn’t a tentative something brewing between us. Instead, there was this intense feeling that never truly left – this push and pull that would eventually cause one of us to snap and give in.

‘You heard the argument?’ Orion asked, his jaw set tight as he tracked the clouds with his eyes.

‘Kind of hard to miss it,’ I replied, absently tracing shapes on my shirt. ‘I’ve never heard your dad sound like that.’

‘Probably because he’s never raised his voice at Raven. She’s never really given him a reason to.’

‘And you wanting to follow your dreams has?’ I asked, thinking about the argument that was replaying in my head. I was angry, I realized. For Orion – for the way his wishes had been dismissed, and how he’d already been made to feel like he wasn’t good enough.

I loved the Hawthornes like they were my own parents, but I couldn’t ignore how unfair they were being; how much they were hurting their son, and how much that angered me.